Process of making wire fabric



H. E. BROWN.

PROCESS QF MAKING WIRE FABRIC. APPLICATION FILED JAN- 31. 1917. v

1,359,667. Patented Nov. 23, 1920.

6 SHEETS-SHEET l- H. E. BROWN.

PROCESS OF MAKING WIRE FABRiC. APPLICATION FILED JAN- 31.]1911.

1,359,667, Patented Nov. 23, 1920 6 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

H. E. BROWN.

PROCESS OF MAKING WIRE FABRIC.

APPLICATION FILED 1mm! 1 1,359,667, Patented Nov. 23,1920.

6 EEEEEEEEEEEE 3- H. E. BROWN.

PROCESS OF MAKING WIRE FABRHC.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-31,1917.

1,359,6fi2; I Patented. NW. 23,1920.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 4* fiwgaaaqss $572M? 7 Fm H. E. BROWN.

PROCESS OF MAKING WIRE FABRIC.

APPLICATION FILED JAN- 31, 19!?- Patented Nov. 23, 1920.

6 SHEETSSHEET 5- fiZwm we I 0/2? 71 H. E. BROWN. PROCESS OF MAKING WIREFABRIC.

APPLICATION FILED MM- 3!, I917- Patented Nov. 23, 1920.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 6.

PATENT OFFICE.

HARVEY E. BROWN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

' PROCESS OF MAKING- WIRE FABRIC.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 23, 1920.

Original application filed November 19, 1915, Serial No. 62,321. PatentNo. 1,224,270, dated May 1, 1917. Divided and. this application filedJanuary 31, 1917. Serial No. 145,635.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that l, lianvsr E. BROWN, acitizen of the United States, residingat St. Louis, and State ofMissouri, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Processesof Making Wire Fabric, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in f mess of making wire fabric,and, although capable of different uses, is particularly well suited forproducing wire fabric such as is employed in the construction of springbed bottoms.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved process of theclass described capable of being employed in the production of widelyvarying sizes and constructions of wire fabrics; to provide a processwhich may be efficiently employed by automatic machinery forconstructing such fabrics; and, in general, to provide an improvedprocess of the character referred to.

This is a divisional application, the subject-matter of which isdescribed but not claimed in the original application Serial No. 62,321,filed November 19, 1915, which has now resulted in U. S. Patent Number1,224,270, issued May 1, 1917.

Illustrating a specific application of. my invention, T will nowdescribe a fabric-making machine in which my improved process may beefficiently utilized, said machine being shown in the accompanyingdrawings, in which- V Figure 1 is a front elevation;

' Fig. 2 is a view showing a portion of the fabric formed by themachine;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, the belt wheel being removed;

Fig. 1 is an enlargement of a part of 3, showing a portion of theforming mechanism Fig. 5 is an enlarged front view of a por tion of themachine;

Fig. 6 is a view of some of the parts shown in Fig. 5, theparts,however, being in a different position;

'Z is a central section through the main portion of the machine;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged view of a portion of the tabriccarrying drum;

Fig. 9 is a plan View partly in section;

Figs. 10 and 11 are views showing the mechanism for forming the loops onthe ends or the fabric members; and

Fig. 12 is an enlarged view of the mecha' nism for folding the two sidesof the fabric members in parallel position.

Like mar rs of reference refer to similar parts in the several views ofthe drawings.

15 represents a base or pillar upon which the operating parts of themachine are supgorted. Surrounding this base or pillar 15 is collar 16carrying a guide 17 for guiding the fabric to and from the drum, as willbe hereinafter described. Secured to the upper end. of the pillar 15 isa casting 18 to which the drum 19 is secured by means of a bolt or stud20, as shown in F ig. 7. The drum 19 is arranged to rotate freely on theinner end of the bolt or stud 20. This stud carries an eccentric cam 21,.which cam is prevented from turning by means of a key 22 (Fig. 7 heobject of the cam 21 is to cause the forming members .43 to protrudefrom the face of the drum a. the upper part thereof, as shown in Figs.3' and 7. Each of these forming members 23 is provided at one end. witha stop 2 1 and, near its central part, with projections 25 (Fig. 8)which are adapted to form bends in the central part of -the sides of thefabric members, as will be hereinafter more fully described. The members 23ers maintained in contact with the eccentric cam 21 by means of aring 26 concentric with the said cam. In order to hold the loops of theformed fabric members against the stops 2 1, I provide the drum with aplurality of detents 27, each of which is provided with a pinion 28.These pinions 9.8 are engaged by racks 29 set into the surface of thedrum and actuated by a cam track 30 supported by bracket 31 and arrangedin a groove 31 formed around the periphery of the drum near its innerend. Arranged between the forming members 23 on the face of the drum arestops 32 and wire guides 33. as best shown in Fig. 8 Adjacent to thedetents 27, the drum 19 1S provided with a number of blocks 34: whichare adapted to receivethe formed fabric members and, together with thedetents 27, hold the same in proper position for their loops to receivewire to form a new fabric member. The drum 19 projects beyond theseblocks 3 1- a suitable distance to receive the amount of fabric it isdesired to form in one piece; The drum, as best shown in Fig. 1. has itsperiphery formed into a number of fiat faces, each of which is equal toa width of one of the fabric members. In the present machine, fourteenof these faces are shown formed on the drum. Thenumber, however may bevaried without affecting the operation of the machine. The rear end ofthe drum 19 is provided with a ratchet having teeth corresponding innumber with the number of faces on the periphery of the drum 19. Thedrum is fed forward by means of a pawl engaging with the teeth of theratchet The pawl 36 ispivoted upon an arm 37 carried by a reciprocatingbar 38 mountec in guides 39 carried on the casting 18. The bar 38 isoperated by means of an eccentric which will be hereinafter described.Secured to the upper end of the casting 18 by means of a bolt 10 is acasting 11 adapted to carry the main operating parts of the machine.This casting 41 supports the frame 12 in which mounted the main shaft 13of the machine. Mounted. on the end of the shaft 13 is a belt or drivewheel 4% to which power is supplied from any suitable source. Alsomounted on the shaft 43 is an eccentric it connected by means of a strap46 with the upper end of the bar 38 hereinbefore referred to.

Carried by the casting 11 is a pair of studs 50 upon which is slidablymounted a block 51. The block 51 is connected by means of a link 52-toone end of a lever 53'which is pivoted at 541 to a lug 55 carried by thecasting 4.1, as best shown in 7 and 9. The opposite end of the lever 53is provided with an anti-friction roll 56 adapted to cooperate with acam 57 carried on the main shaftshaped face on a vertical bar 60. Thisbar 60 is situated in slot 61 in the block 51 and is held in slidingrelation thereto by means of cross pieces 62. The lower end of the bar60 is provided with laterally projecting portions 63 so that the bar asa whole forms a T-shaped member. The inner face ofthe bar is providedadjacent to its lower edge with a groove 64. as best shown in Fig. 10.The object of this groove is to en gage the wire of'which the fabricmember is to be formed- Loosely mounted in the block 51 are a pair ofshafts 85. These shafts are so mounted to have a limited amount ofvertical movement. Rigidly secured to the shafts (55 are wings 66, asshown in detail in Fig. 12. These wings are adapted to fold the sides ofthe fabric member in parallel position. Secured to each of the wings 66is blaue (57. the inner face of which is provided with a. groove 68 foron as best shown in'Figs. 7 and 10.

gaging with the wire of which the fabric member is to be formed. Each ofthe blades 67 also provided with a central opening I -39. as bestshown'in Fig. 10. The upper ends of the shafts are provided with pinions70 which engage with rack bars "71 for operating the blades. These rackbars are mounted in suitable guideways in the casting and are providedwith inwardly projecting blocks '72 adapted to be engaged by cams 73carried on the shaft lS. In order to return each of the rack bars 71 totheir normal position after being engaged by ti cam 73, 1 provide a coilspring 74% whico is secured at one end to a pin 75 carried by each ofthe studs 50 and at the other to a pin 76 carried by each of the rackbarsTl.

Arranged outside of the studs 50 are a second pair of'studs 80 alsocarried by the casting n. Each of these studs 80 has pir oted on it aplate 81 having journaled in its lower part rock shaft 82. On the innerend of this rock shaft 82 is a forming pin 83, as best shown in Figs. 10and 11. The plate 81 secured to it adjacent to the reel: shaft 82. ablade at (Fig. 10) which is adapted to cooperate with a cuttingprojection 85 on. the rock shaft 82 in order to sever the wire. Thecutting projection 85 not only cooperates with the blade 84 to sever thewire, but also forms a loop on the same. as best shown in Fig. 11. Astop pin 86 is carried in each of the plates 81 to assist in theformation of the loop.

In order to rotate the shafts 82, each of said shafts is provided at itsforward end with a gear wheel 8?, as shown in Fig. 5. These gear wheels87 cooperate with rack b. rs 88 mounted in guides 89 carried on theplates 81. The upper end of each of the rack bars 88 is pivoted to alink 90. the opposite end of which is pivoted to a lever 91. The lever91 is in turn pivoted at 92 to a bracketlii carried by the frame 12 andprovided with an anti-friction roll 94 adapted to be one god by a cam 95on the main shaft norder to return thcl'ever 91 toits normal positionafter it is operated by .the cam 95. I secure to said lever one end of aspring 96. the other end of which is secured to the plate 81, as shownin Figs. 3 and This spring not only serves to return the lever 91 to itsnormal position, but also normally holds theplate 81 against a stop )7carried bya sleeve 98, rigidly secured to the stud 80. Secured to theupper edges of the plate 81 are the ends of a U- shaped member 99carrying wire guides 100, A wire guide 101 similar to the guides is alsocarried onthe plate 81 at the side opposite to that into which the wireis fed. The member 9%) is pivoted at point 102, as shown in Fig. 5, sothat the said member-will not interfere with a slight rocking motion ofthe plate 81 which is caused by the formation of the loops on the end ofthe wire, as will be hereinafter described. In order to feed the wire103 into the machine, the wire is engaged by means of a feed dog of anyusual construction. This feed dog 10% slides upon a rod 105, carried bya bracket 106 secured to the frame 12. The feed dog is connected bymeans of a link 107 with an arm 108 having a slot 109 engaging with apin 110 on a bevel gear wheel 111, carried on the frame 12, as bestshown in Figs. 1 and 9. The arm 103 is pivoted to the frame 12 at 11 1.This bevel gear wheel 111 is engaged by a second bevel gear wheel 112mounted on the end of the shaft as. It will thus be evident that eachtime the shaft 13 is rotated, the feeding mechanism 104. will bereciprocated along the rod 105. Arranged on the rod 105, adjacent to theplate 81, is a detent 113 of any usual form for preventing the wire 103from being moved backward during the return movement of the feedingmechanism 104.

The operation of the machine will now be briefly described. The wire 103is fed into the machine by the forward movement of the feeding device10 1. The wire 103 first passes between the blade 84st the left handside of the machine and its cooperating cutting projection 85. The wirethen passes through the first wire guide 100 and through the loops ofthe fabric sections which have been previously formed. After passingthrough the fabric sections, the wire then passes through the secondguide 100 to the guide 101, and to the second cutting members 84 and 85.The stroke of the feeding device is so arranged that slightly more wirewill be fed into the machine than is necessary to form one of the fabricmembers. The surplus wire is cut off by the second cutting members 34.and 85. as shown in Fig. 10. The purpose of this is to insure uniformlength of the wire, even if there should be a slight variation of thefeed. While the wire is fed through the loops of the preceding fabricmembers the said loops are held in alinement against the forming members24 by means of the detents 27, as best shown in Fig. 8. After the wirehas been fed into position, as shown in Fig. 10, the cams 95 will comeinto contact with the anti-friction rolls 94 on the levers 91 andactuate the said levers to raise the rack bars 88, and thus rotate therock shafts 82 so as to cause the members 85 to cotiperate with theblades 8 1 in cutting the wire at both ends and to also cause saidmembers to carry the ends of the wire around the loops forming pins 83,so as to form loops 115 on the ends of the wire 103 as best shown inFig; 11. It will be evident that the formation of these loops on theends of the wire will somewhat shorten the wire. This is compensated forby the movement of the plates 81 toward each other on their pivots.After the formation of the loops 115 on the ends of the wire 103, thecam 57 comes in contact with the antifriction roll 56 on the end of thelever 53, thus causing the block 51 to be moved rearwardly along thestuds 50. This movement of the block 51 along the studs 50 allows themember 60 to move downwardly and as this member supports the wings 66,the said wings also move downwardly, so that said parts assume aposition such that the grooves 61 and 68 in. the members 63 and 67 willengage with the wire 103. The arms 63 of the member 60 .hold the centralpart of the cross piece of the fabric member against the stop pin 32while the blades 67 fold the sides of the fabric member into position.The object of raising the member 60 and wings 66 on their rearwardmovement is to remove them out of the path of the various projectingportions of the drum 19. After the loops 115 have been formed upon theends of the wires, the cams 73 come into contact with the blocks 7 2 onthe rack shaft bars 71. thus actuating the pinions to rotate the shafts.65 and thus fold the wings 66, as best shown in Fig. 12. This foldingof the wings 66 causes the blades 67 to engage with the wire 103 andbend the same around theforming members 24:, so as to form parallel sidepieces 116 of the fabric members. Half loops 117 are thus formed at twocorners of the fabric member. At the same time, the sides 116 of thefabric member are folded into parallel position. the recesses 69 in theblades 67 cooperate with the projections 25 on forming members 24 toform bends 118 in i the side members 116, and thus increase theirresiliency. After the cams 73 release the rack bars 7 2, they arereturned to their normal position by means of the springs 74;

and the parts of the machine thus assume their normal position. The drum19 is now 'fed forward by the action of the feed pawl 36 and the machineis ready to begin the operation of forming a new fabric member.

The formed fabric members, after leaving the drum 19, are engaged bytheguide 17 and are carried downwardly and then up wardly, at the oppositeside of the drum where they are again delivered to the drum. Each fabricmember in being carried around the drum by the guide 17 is. at the sametime, carried forward a distance equal to its own length, so that whenit is a second time presented to the drum it has been moved toward theouter end of the drum sufficiently to bring its loops 115 into positionto receive the wire 103 which is to form a new fabric member. Thus thecontinued operation of the machine results in the forma of a tubularlink mesh fabric composed of connected spiral convolutions of seriallyarranged fabric units. The series conncctions of adjacent units areprovided by the hook-portions of units of the adjacent pre cedingconvolution, said hook portions also serving to connect adjacentconvolutions iaterally, 7

It will be manifest that my inventioi not confined to the specificprocess herein described, nor is it limited for use in connection withthe specific machine 5-: t forth above, both the process and the meansfor carrying it out being capable of being modified considerably to suitindividual requirements, without sacrifice of ediciency. The scope ofthe invention, therefore, is in no sense limited by the specific(illbtlliS of opera-- tion described herein, but artist be determined'byreferring to the appended clainv I claim 1. The improved method ofmaking tubular wire fabrics composed of spiral convolutions ofconnected, identical fabric units which interioch with the units ofadjacent 'convoiutions, which consists in severing equal lengths of'wircfrom a continuous wire supply, forming these lengths of wire into fabricunits and interlocking said fabric units with the similar units of apreviously completed portion ()iiifittlCl tubuiar fabric.

2. The improved method ofmahinp; rectangular mesh bed spring fabriccomposed of parallel rows of similarly formed fabric units, whichconsists in severing; equal lengths of wire from a continuous wiresupply, forming these lengths of wire into fabric units and attachingsaid fabric units to each other to formspiral convolutions of a tubularmesh fabric, and laterally interlocking the rows of fabric unitsdirectly with each other to form'rectangular mesh bed spring fabric. V

3. The improvedmethod ofconstructing rectangular-mesh tubular wirefabric made of wire units having limbs substantially parallel to theaxis of the fabric, which consists in connecting one by one to the endof a previously completed fabric portion a circumferential series ofwire fabric units having limbs arranged substantially parallel with theaxis of the fabric and with the outer ends of said limbs disconnected,and thereby linking together the free ends of previously connected unitswhereby the inchoate rectangular meshes of said fabric are completed,one by one, r 7

4. The improved method of making wire fabric formed of wire units, thelimbs of which form boundaries of the meshes of the fabric, whichconsists in connecting to the end of a previously completed fabricportion a row of fabric units having limbs, the ends of which are freeand project outwardly from their connections with the prefluentlyforming the unit to provid cc of wire, the terminal portions of which:orm a pair of limbs separated to constitute sit es of inchoate fabricmesh, the ends of said limbs being free and projecting outwardly fromthe end of the previously compl ted fabric portion and thereby complet-3 previously formed inchoate meshes by innectino the outer free ends ofthe limbs of the units in the row previously connected to saidfabric'port ion,

6 The improvement in the process of constructing, mesh fabric from wireunits, which consists in engaging the of a previously completed portionof said mesh fabric, and subsequently forming the unit to provide meansfor connecting a subsequent unit thereto.

'Y. The improvement in the process of constructing mesh fabric of wireunits, which consists iu-eng a i'iortiou of a unit with ed of ireviousiycompleted portion of said mesh fabric, and subsequently forming anotherportion of the unit to provide means for connecting, subsequent unitthereto. V

8. The improvement in the process'of constructing wire mesh fabriccomposed of connected transverse rows of connected longitudinallydisposed fabric units, which consists in enejasinp; that portion of thewire member which is to become one edge of the unit with the end of apreviously completed portion of said mesh fabric, and

means for connectin a subsequent unit thereto,

9, The improvement in the process of constructing wire mesh fabriccomposed of i sverse rows of connected lon- 1" inally disposed fabricunits, which con c s in on ing that portion of the wire aber i h is tobecome one edge of the unit with the end of previously completed portionsaid me I quently forming; an eye in said wire member whereby asubsequent unit may be connected thereto.

10. The improvement in the process of constructing wire mesh fabriccomposed of interconnected fabric unit's, which. consists in en aginrg awire member with the edge of a previously completed portion of saidmeshfabric, and subsequently bending said unit with the edge uric, andsubse,

.subscmember, said bending operation including the formation of an eyeto provide connection means for a subsequent unit.

11. The improvement in the process of constructing wire mesh fabriccomposed of connected transverse rows of connected longitudinallydisposed fabric units which consists in threading a wire length into aneye at the edge of a previously completed por tion of said mesh fabric,and subsequently bending said member to provide :1 hooked arm extendingoutwardly from the edge of the fabric.

12. The improvement in the process of constructing wire mesh fabric,which consists in engaging the central portion of a length of wire witha previously completed portion of said mesh fabric, and subsequentlybending said wire length to form a pair of arms extending outwardly fromthe edge of the fabric.

18. The improvement in the process of constructing wire mesh fabriccomposed of transverse rows of fabric units, which consists intransversely moving a wire member into engagement with the edge of a previously completed portion of said mesh fabric, and subsequently formingsaid wire member into the shape of a unit.

14:. The improvement in the process of constructing wire mesh fabric,which consists in threading the end of a length of wire through the eyeof a unit on the edge of a previously completed portion of said meshfabric, and subsequently forming an eye on said end.

HARVEY E. BROWN.

